I was packing away some too-small baby clothes the other day when I came across the worst baby gift I ever received: a baby bathrobe.
It’s not that the bathrobe wasn’t gorgeous; it was an elegant, fluffy, white, Christian Dior bathrobe from Nordstrom. It was also completely pointless: babies go from bath to towel to changing table, due to the ever-present threat of a post-bath “shower.” Putting a squirmy baby in a bathrobe before putting them in clothes or jammies is an unnecessary, time- and effort-consuming step. I think that between all three of my kids I may have used the bathrobe once, which was all I needed to confirm that it was, indeed, useless.
Time Magazine published an article about this. It’s a subjective topic: the Time author doesn’t like baby wipe warmers, although we liked ours for our winter baby until it shorted and singed a hole on our shelf. Another friend hates hooded baby towels, whereas I think they’re handy and my kids think they’re fun; how can you pretend to be a puppy without floppy ears??
I mention all this not to be ungrateful, but to underline the fact that some baby products should not be purchased, regardless of their clever packaging or adorable appearance. As you might have guessed, the bathrobe was a gift from a friend with no children. It’s the kind of gift that I used to give before I had personal experience to guide me.
I’m interested in what’s on your worst baby gifts list. Please share!
5 comments
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August 22, 2007 at 8:41 pm
MommyJ
hmmm. Now I don’t see a real problem with the gift. Gifts are always welcome. I think maybe you just didn’t know how to wear it. If my child (and I have two) were given Christian Dior bathrobes, they would wear them everywhere–church, grocery store, walks in the park, etc. Heck, I’d make them wear the robes inside out just so folks could be sure to see the label. While it’s nice that you are pragmatic as a mom, don’t forget you live in Northern Virginia. Labels, status, money is everything that REALLY counts. Keep the madness coming…. The shelves are getting a little empty.
August 22, 2007 at 11:29 pm
LoCo Loca
LOL. You’re right; what was I thinking?? And I could’ve paired it with my Starbucks and pearls.
It might be worth having another kid just to get some use out of that bathrobe…
August 23, 2007 at 5:03 pm
CJ's mom
The most useless baby gift I received was a set of scented candles. I am not about to leave a candle burning unattended in a child’s room, and the baby-themed scents, such as baby powder, don’t have much appeal as general use candles. But it was a nice thought.
August 28, 2007 at 12:57 pm
AlsoLoco
Well, it’s a tough one, because there are SO many things that I thought would be useful, and turned out not to be, because each kid has certain nuances. My first loved his vibrating bouncy seat, my second hated it. We used the Diaper Genie with my first child (I was counfounded and frustrated every time I had to insert a new bag-ring-thingy), but used a simple closing trash can and a whole lot of plastic supermarket bags with my 2nd son. In the category of gifts, though, it was the bone china Beatrix Potter place setting. It was service for 1, and by the time either of my kids was old enough to use dishware, melamine or plastic was the way to go. Goodwill became the proud recipients of the fine china.
November 23, 2007 at 9:11 am
George
My little baby loves to wear jewelery Recently i bought Princess ring set from DisneyShopping store at couponalbum.com on great discounted prices ..